The Lynnwood High School budget is at an all-time low and that includes money to buy paper. Students and teachers are finding new ways to get through the same curriculum using fewer handouts.

This year the LHS paper budget dropped from $13,000 to $8,000. Teachers are being asked to be cautious about what they print for students and are asked to put handouts on their teacher websites.

Because of a decrease in money available for paper, if students need to print at school they are charged five cents every time they print something. Each student is allotted $2.50 in free printing but pays the fee when that runs out.

Sophomore Emily Chambers said she is fine with the school saving paper and money. “I feel like the school needs to find a new way for us to learn without so much paper,” said Chambers.

“Teachers have started printing things into booklets, which cuts the paper they use by half or even more and have been printing off half sheets,” said Lynnwood High’s Instructional Secretary Sonja Gill-More.

Many teachers have students turn essays and typed assignments in electronically on Turnitin.com, a plagiarism-detection website that logs when essays are handed in and allows teachers to score papers online.

More and more teachers are also moving assignments online. Math teacher Glenn Chinn recently put his assignment sheets online. ASL teacher Heidi Oshie is handing out a deaf dollar (25 points of extra credit) per ream of printer paper she receives from students.

Senior project is a graduation requirement for any senior graduating from Lynnwood. Renee Malowney, the senior project advisor, has been very innovative with a decreasing paper budget. “I have been unable to print additional copies due to the fact that I have no budget to pay for copies,” said Malowney.

“The Senior Project budget for the whole year was spent before the end of the first quarter due to printing the guidebooks and all the copies I had at the start of the year.” Seniors now have to print off the papers they need from Malowney’s website.

Nora Selander is a student at Lynnwood High School.